Oppenheimer posed a tricky question for perennial hit maker Christopher Nolan. How do you make a three hour biopic of a scientist compelling enough to bring in big money? Turns out the answer is to not make a biopic at all.
While J. Robert Oppenheimer is indeed the focus of the film it eschews any traditional biopic format, instead serving up what is essentially a heist or even sports movie wrapped up in a courtroom drama. This allows the director to indulge his favourite hobby of playing with time, as the story jumps between two different panel hearings while also covering Oppenheimer's early career and of course the work of the Manhattan Project. This approach works incredibly well with the three hour runtime flying by. In fact, if you go to see this in the cinema you might want to skip the large cola as there really isn't any time when little enough is happening to sneak in a toilet brake.
Technically the film is outstanding. Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, following on last year's Nope, is at the absolute top of his game and sound design is also great, with very little of the hard to hear dialogue that Nolan films are sometimes ridiculed for. The centre piece of the film is the first atomic bomb test and it is spectacular, you may have seen a million on screen explosions but you've never seen one shot like this.
It goes without saying that the cast is absolutely stacked, from Robert Downey Jnr's spurned official to Matt Damon's scenery chewing general. When you've got Kenneth Branagh filling out a relatively small role you know Oppenheimer is a prestige film. It all centres on a barnstorming performance by Cillian Murphy, who absolutely devours the role of J. Robert Oppenheimer. It's the type of role he has been ready to take on for decade or more and he nails his chance, expect to see him front and centre come award season.
Murphy's performance is central to the films biggest strength, keeping the titular character at just the right length from the audience. Scientist, schemer, leader, egomaniac, mythological figure. He is shown as all of these and more but never to the point where the film tells the viewer how much of each he was or what the you should really think of him. It's obvious he craves recognition but is it more important than accomplishment? He feels the weight of unleashing horror on mankind but does he feel it enough? All these types of question are left for the audience to decide.
One thing the audience is not asked to judge him on is his philandering, which is mostly left on the back burner here. Maybe because, in the face of creating nuclear weapons, marital indiscretions aren't considered a particularly important part of a man's legacy. Especially when it seems to be par for the course with famous scientists of that era. Or maybe it's because Nolan's major weakness as a film maker remains his inability to portray convincing relationships, leading here to a frankly bizarre sex scene.
Oppenheimer also isn't going to do anything to quiet critics who say Nolan underserves female characters. In the all star cast are Florence Pugh and Emily Blunt, two of the best around but (one scene aside) there is little for them to really get their teeth into. Perhaps Nolan will get a pass on this one given the male dominated nature of the time period.
Overall, the ambition and efficiency of Oppenheimer can't be denied. It ranks amongst Christopher Nolan's best work and one of the most entertaining historical dramas in a long time.
8 split atoms out of 10.
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